USASTRATCOM

This blog was created for USASTRATCOM Long Lines Battalion Army personnel who served in Taiwan during the 1965-72 time frame. Specifically, those who lived and worked in and around Taipei are the target. If you worked at the Grass Mountain or Gold Mountain facilities or anywhere in downtown Taipei, we would like to hear from you. All are welcome to visit and contribute to this blog. Your comments and pictures are encouraged.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Quemoy And Matsu, 1968-1969

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿When
we first got our orders to report to Taiwan, many of my classmates at
USASESS, Ft. Gordon, GA, had never heard of the name "Taiwan." Some thought we were going to Thailand and others really didn't care since it was not VietNam. By the time the sixteen of us arrived in June of 1968, we all knew where we were going. However, not everyone was familiar with the Nationalist Islands near the Chinese mainland. One of us volunteered for a 12 month tour in Quemoy (Kinmen). Since he was married, he thought he could get back to the United States and home faster than the rest of us. His daily duties included sending and receiving one message. The rest of the day was not tightly scheduled. Fortunately, he enjoyed golf and played on the nine hold course that the island provided.

There were stories of the massive fortification of the island and a large movie theater blasted out of solid rock. These were stories we heard, but could not verify.

Pacific Stars and Stripes, 1969

Pacific Stars and Stripes, 1969

Previous postings on this blog followed the duty in 1957-58 of Tom Jones, who was with the Army Signal Corps. Part of his duty was to connect the island of Matsu within and with other Nationalist possessions.

To read and view Tom's adventures in Matsu, just clickHERE. Kent Mathieu has done a wonderful job of showing how rugged Tom and his friends had it back then.

Perhaps our blog historian will be able to pinpoint the exact date of this incident. The important thing to remember is that even though things seemed peaceful on the surface, there were plenty of encounters occurring that were kept from everyone.

4 comments:

Very likely it's related to the following news on July 4, 1969.http://data.matsu-news.gov.tw/ 反共救國軍突擊隊突擊閩江口(The Nationalist Salvation Army on Matsu attacked Min River)，曾在定海灣、四姆嶼、半洋島等處擊沉匪補給艦兩艘及匪砲艇一艘(and sank two supply ships and one gunboat of Communist China at Ding-Hai Bay, Si-Mu Island, and Ban-Yang Island).

L.Gustwiller TTY MAINT 68-71I was sent to both Matsu and Kinmen YES there is a theater in a mountain ( granite ) big blast door also to use as bomb shelteand I got to see the Beach with High secuity Guns I would not want to try and come up that beach yesy did not have to do much there I got tty all up in good order then just site seeingGUS